I'm a hack myself, and I'm real curious as to what can go wrong with these smaller trees.
I'm selectively taking out a big bunch of these plate size trees as you call them, and converting them to firewood. I'm leaving alone and trying to encourage the more desirable trees (at least for me) like wild cherries, walnuts, hickory, etc. and removing trees like box elder, maple, and hackberry. They are spaced close together so I have to be real precise where I land them or I'll damage trees I wish to keep or get them hung up. So far, the thing that seems to work best for me, amateur that I am, is to place an extension ladder on the trunk, climb up and attach a rope. Then put the rope under tension with a comealong. Then do the usual backcut, wedge, and notch routine. So far so good, I've just been interested in shortcuts, but I guess there aren't any.